Santa Cecilia, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere

Stefano Maderno
1600

Note: This photograph was generously contributed by Sara James, Department of Art and Art History at Mary Baldwin College. She owns the copyright and should be contacted directly if you are interested in the use of her photograph: Sara James

Any errors in the text, however, are mine alone.

Santa Cecilia. a Roman martyr, is depicted in this sculpture above her tomb. By tradition at least, it represents her body in the position it was found in, when disinterred. Her small body is face down, with her head in a veil. The wound which severed her neck is covered with a narrow ribbon.

Poetic expressiveness

This highly polished dramatic sculpture is dated at the beginning of the Baroque period. Bernini's sculptures and Carravaggio's paintings will be even more theatrical and dramatic.